|
Kyudo Master needed for TV show.
|
I just received this ad from a TV show looking for a Kyudo master!
My name is Thomas Stemrich with
Morningstar Entertainment. We are casting a new television show for
Spike TV that aims to both educate and entertain, exploring fighting arts
from all around the world. We are looking for someone of Japanese
descent, skilled in Kyudo, who is fluent in English, to be an on-screen
expert in the matter. If you live in the Los Angeles area, please give us a call at (323)243-1113 and
ask for our casting director, Mindy. You can also e-mail Mindy at mbazar ( at
) morningstarentertainment.com and set up a casting
session. Thank you very much for your consideration.
Thomas Stemrich
Morningstar Entertainment
|
Will you be in Duluth, Georgia,
Sept. 27 and 28th?
|
If you are near the Convention Center at
Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia, Sept. 27th and 28th keep an eye
out for the Georgia Kyudo Federation who are planning demonstrations during
the event.
The festival web page is here: http://www.japanfest.org
Contact the Georgia Kyudo Renmei here: http://www.kyudo.com/gkr.html
|
Will you be in Saint
Paul, Minnesota,
on August 17, 2008?
|
If you are near St.
Paul's Como
Park then visit the Japanese Lantern Festival on Aug 17 and watch a
demonstration by the Minnesota Kyudo Renmei.
The festival web page is here: http://www.comozooconservatory.org/cons/jll.shtml
Contact the Minnesota Kyudo Renmei
here: http://www.mnkyudo.org/
|
Congratulations to the new officers of the
American Kyudo Renmei!
|
After many years as president of the
AKR, Dan DeProspero sensei decided not to run for
relection this year. As a result several new officers were
elected:
President: Steve Scott sensei, Northern
California Kyudo Federation
Vice-president: Joseph Reid, Georgia
Kyudo Renmei
Secretary: John Born, Minnesota Kyudo Renmei
Tresurer: D. Mark Gable, North
Carolina Kyudo Renmei
Many thanks to DeProspero
sensei for his many years of help and guidence to
the AKR and good luck to the new officers in their efforts to lead and grow
the AKR over the next two years.
|
Pictures from Kyudo USA 2008?
|
I’ve uploaded
all my pictures from Kyudo USA 2008.
Click on the thumbnail and a larger picture will appear. Click on that picture and the raw image
file from my camera will fill your screen.
If you want to make hard copies of the picture then that is the image
you want to save to disk.
http://www.ocdirect.net/eclay/html/kyudousa2008/index.html
And I see that Daniel
Kim has been uploading his pictures to his flickr
account also:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=2008%20kyudo%20seminar&w=all
And Paolo Moscatelli has uploaded
the slide show to myphotoalbum!
http://kyudousa2008.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album02&utm_source=share&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=album
And even MORE pictures,
test day and banquet!
http://kyudousa2008.myphotoalbum.com/slideshow.php?set_albumName=album01&utm_source=share&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=slideshow
|
Flying into LAX for the 2008 American
Kyudo Seminar?
|
Then all I can say is
good luck!
Hi Doug and Jannette!
I have some last minute instructions to
the people who are flying. Can you please email to the renmei heads to give to their members, and also if
possible post on the website? It's important that all those who are
flying and getting transported by us see the letter below. thank you very much!
Leslie
--------------------------------------------------------
Dear Seminar Attendees,
The seminar is only a few days away
now, and we are looking forward to your arrival. If you are arriving
by airplane, I have included a list of attendees with flight information
and arrival/departure times. Please take the time to review this list
and email me with any changes or corrections at lkoyama@verizon.net as
soon as possible.
There are a few items I have
to clarify with you all, regarding arrivals and departures by
plane:
1. LAX is quite a distance from
UCI, perhaps 45 to 50 miles. In rush hour traffic, this trip one-way
can take as long as 2-3 hours. Luckily there is a carpool lane on the
405 freeway, but it can still take a long time. Due to the
distance that LAX is from UCI, and the sad fact that we are short of very
large cars and drivers to transport you all as you arrive, we cannot
shuttle everyone to UCI as soon as you arrive. I am very sorry,
but some of you will have to wait for the cars to arrive as we shuttle back
and forth between LAX and UCI. This delay time can be as long as an
hour and a half. For most flights, I will try to arrange for a person
to meet you at baggage claim when you arrive, but please be prepared to
wait there. Please make yourself comfortable, and bring a good
book. We will arrange for transportation to pick up attendees at 8:00
am, 11:30 am, 1:30 pm, 3:00 pm, 3:45 pm, 6:00 pm, 7:30 pm, 9:15 pm, and
11:00 pm. Pick-up times are subject to change depending on
traffic conditions. If you are concerned that no one has come by and
that you have been left at the airport without a ride, please contact Erin
Rivera at (805) 390-4571.
She will have a list of drivers and pick-up times and can make sure you get
picked up.
2. SNA is a small airport and
extremely close to UCI. There should not be
any problem with picking up seminar attendees flying into SNA. Please
wait at baggage claim and someone will be by shortly to transport you to
UCI. If you are concerned that no one has come by and that you have
been left at the airport without a ride, please contact Erin Rivera at (805) 390-4571.
She will have a list of drivers and pick-up times and can make sure you get
picked up.
3. Most of our drivers will be
wearing a kyudo tee shirt
-- white with a black circle, and the kanjis 'Ikkyu' (one yumi) in
it. If they are not wearing a kyudo
tee shirt, they will have a little 'Kyudo' sign. Hopefully this will
help you spot them.
4. If your flight is delayed on
the 15th or you have any deviation (such as flight numbers, etc) from the
information you have previously given me (i.e. unexpectedly changing
planes), please call Erin Rivera as soon as possible to notify her, so that
she can notify the drivers of your change in schedule.
5. In the unfortunate event of a
flight cancellation and you cannot arrive until July 16th or later, after
the seminar begins, please call Rick Beal at 800-847-0332 and he will try to
arrange pick-up for you.
6. LAX requires a 2 hour time
allotment for 911 security purposes for when you depart. This means
you will be arriving 2 hours before your flight is scheduled to
depart. Since UCI is 45-50 miles away from LAX, you will have to
leave UCI 3 hours before your flight is scheduled to depart. For
attendees who have scheduled departure flights at 7:15, this means you will
have to leave UCI at 4:15 am. Please be prepared to get
up very early in order to catch your ride. Please do not be late.
7. Again, because of the
unfortunate lack of large cars, we will be leaving in assigned groups on
Sunday (much like Tuesday). This means that some of you will be
arriving at LAX very, very early -- perhaps as much as 3 1/2 hours
before your departure time. Please be prepared for this, and bring a
good book.
8. SNA requires a 1 hour time
allotment for 911 security purposes for when you depart. You will be
leaving UCI 1.5 hours before your flight is scheduled to depart.
Again, because of the unfortunate lack of large cars, we will be leaving in
assigned groups on Sunday (much like Tuesday), so some of you might arrive
2 hours before departure time. Please be prepared for this, and bring
a good book.
I deeply apologize for the
inconvenience, and I appreciate your patience and understanding in this
matter. We will do our best to accommodate you all.
Sincerely,
Leslie Koyama
|
Pictures From A Dojo Biraki
in Paju, Korea.
|
Feliks Hoff sensei in Germany is attending MUCH more
interesting dojo biraki (openings) than I
am. He seems to travel the world visting Kyudo dojo openings and one of his recent
outings was to a dojo biraki in Paju, Korea, a city North of
Seoul. Hoff sensei attended the
opening with Mori sensei of Tsukuba
University who
brought two of his students.
Mr. Daniel Seong studied Kyudo at the Alster
Dojo in Hamburg, Germany, last year. He was an experienced archer in
traditional Korean archery and after studying Kyudo in Germany he returned to Korea and started a small dojo
in a portion of land located in a city park. Tents were used as the city did not allow
permanent structures to be built and he constructed a three target dojo.
At the opening ceremony
there were traditional Japanese archery ceremonies which Hoff sensei
described as Meigen,
Shiho-zume, the 7-5-3-ceremony and Reisha/Yawatashi but there were also demonstrations of
different kinds of traditional archery and modern archery too. In a news article published in an online
Korean archery magazine you can see some very interesting pictures.
Click
here to see the dojo biraki pictures!.
|
Web Page for A Heki
Ryu Insai Ha dojo in Italy.
|
Mr. Giuseppe Costa
emailed me recently to announce a web page for an independent School in Italy
of the Heki Ryu Insai Ha. Not
all Kyudo dojos, either inside Japan, or outside Japan, are affiliated with the
International Kyudo Federation (IKYF) or the All Nippon Kyudo Federation
(ANKF). There are still traditional
schools of archery in existence and there certainly does seem to be a
growing interest in Kyudo in Italy lately.
Click here to see the Scuola delle
quattro Foglie web page.
Liam O’Brien
sensei has emailed me news of a significant event. Ray Dolphin sensei of the UK passed the kyoshi
exam this May in Kyoto. It is always news when someone passes
their kyoshi (senior instructor rank) test but
even more so when it is someone training primarily outside Japan
with all the hardships that implies.
Congratulations to Dolphin sensei!
Formal awarding of the rank will be upon acceptance of his
thesis. For those not familiar with the
kyoshi exam, the candidate who successfully
completes the shooting, written, oral interview, and sharei
portion of the exam is then assigned a thesis to write and when that is
submitted and approved then the rank is formally awarded. But there is certainly no problem in
giving the congratulations now!
Also, in the email, O’Brien sensei informs me that the UKKA has received formal
government recognition through membership to the Central Council for
Physical Recreation (CCPR) as the governing body for IKYF Kyudo in the UK.
|
The Confusing Mushitei
test!
|
As Kyudo USA 2008 approaches those taking a Kyudo rank
test for the first time always have the same question: what rank do I write
in that “Dan Required” box on the test form?
The answer is almost always “mushitei”, but
exactly what IS the mushitei rank anyway?
The best answer to that question was written by Steve
Scott, president of the Northern California Kyudo Federation, as part of
his excellent Kyudo USA 2005 Test
Information instructions. His
instructions were so good in fact that I’m going to quote the mushitei
instructions here:
(begin quote)
Dan
Required: (Explained below)
The ANKF promotion test will be given according to the
ANKF test regulations as explained in Chapter 6, Articles 20 thru 23 in the
Zen Nippon Kyudo Renmei Test and Regulation Book
(Shinsakite).
The test will be given to the following categories of participants:
1)
Mushitei Shinsa (Open Test): The Mushitei
Test is given to those who do not have any rank (neither Kyu nor Dan) and who are taking a test for the first
time in their Kyudo history.
According to the result of the test, 5th kyu
thru 1st kyu or Shodan
may be awarded. THOSE APPLYING FOR
THIS TEST SHOULD WRITE “MUSHITEI”ON THE
TEST APPLICATION FORM IN THE SPACE AFTER “DAN
REQUIRED”.
2)
Shodan: No matter which kyu the test
candidate may currently have, 5th kyu thru 1st kyu, the candidate may take the shodan test. This will be a
pass/fail test for the shodan rank. Alternatively, the candidate may test for
the next kyu rank by writing in the appropriate kyu. (e.g. Ikkyu)
(end quote)
Those two items are the best explanations on the subject
I have ever seen in English. But
another question then arises, what test fee does the mushitei
candidate pay? If they are awarded ikkyu then they owe one amount but if they are awarded shodan then they will have to pay twice as much. So what is the test fee amount that
should be sent in with the test application?
The exact procedure and test amounts are, of course, up
to the federation hosting the test.
In the case where the NCKF hosted the test the mushitei
candidate was asked to send in the test fee for ikkyu
and if they were awarded shodan instead
(congratulations!) then at the test site they were asked for the additional
shodan test fee money as an adjustment.
I cannot speak for NANKA of course as I am not the
seminar coordinator for Kyudo USA 2008 but I would not be suriprised if this same procedure were being
followed. As always, check with your
federation president first if you have a question.
Sharp eyed readers will note that one of the three sample, correctly filled out, test application forms
listed on the left side of this page is a mushite
test application example!
Good luck to everyone testing in Kyudo USA 2008!
|
The 2008 American Kyudo Seminar Is
Official!
|
Subject: Official 2008 Seminar Announcement
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:53:30 -0800
Hello Senseis, Board Members,
and Representatives,
We hope you are
all well and that you have had a prosperous and
healthy
start to 2008.
Please see the
announcement from Sensei Doug Sakurai below.
Thank you,
Jannette
Nanka
Nanka Kyudo Renmei would like
to officially announce the dates of the
American Kyudo
Seminar for 2008 to be held in Southern California.
The
seminar
dates are July 16-18th and the test date is Saturday July 19th.
The banquet will
be held on Saturday night, so the seminar essentially
goes
from the 16th-20th. We will be celebrating Kyudo's
100 year
history
in Southern California.
The location is at
the University of California, Irvine
in the heart
of
Orange County. The anticipated cost of the
seminar will be in the
$350.00 range. The
nearest airport is John Wayne Airport
in Santa Ana,
but
we will provide transportation from LAX also. We can possibly arrange
transportation
from Long Beach Airport and Ontario Airport
too. We are
currently looking
into scheduling dorm rooms before the seminar for
those
of you that would like to come early and enjoy Southern
California.
Registration forms
and all other information will be out in the next
few
weeks. We hope to see all of you there.
Doug Sakurai
President, Nanka Kyudo Renmei
|
Web page for the Bukyukai
in Hungary.
|
Mr. Ruszthy was kind enough to email me
the URL for the web page of the Hungarian Kyudo-club 'Bukyukai'. He pointed out that it is maintained in
Hungarian, English and German!
Click here to see the Bukyukai
web page!
|
National American 2008 Seminar Dates
Announced.
|
Email
received from Nanaka in Southern
California:
Sorry this is getting out so late. We have
confirmed the dates for the kyudo seminar in Southern California for 2008. I hope that everyone
will come out and join us in celebrating 100 years of kyudo
in Southern Cal. We are excited to be
hosting this event and look forward to seeing all of our friends in kyudo. The dates are July 16th-18th with the test on
July 19th.
The location is at the University of California,
Irvine at the Bren
Center. Yes, the
dates are correct and the test is on Saturday. We are trying to alleviate
the problem of arranging transportation immediately after taking the test
and missing flights. We tried every combination of days to accommodate
everyone, and this was the best way to do it. This will allow us to have
our banquet on Saturday night after the seminar, so everyone can truly
relax and enjoy the event. We are also working on having a couple of bow
makers come out to give demonstrations on how bows are made and also how to
take care of your bow.
More information will be out shortly about
airports, transfers, dorm arrangements, cost and such. For now, all we can
confirm are the dates.
Hope to see you all in July!
Doug Sakurai
President, Nanka
Kyudo Renmei.
|
IKYF 2009 World Championships Canceled.
|
In
a recent email sent to the European and American IKYF liason
officers the IKYF canceled the 2009 World Championship event. The reasons given were not specific but
the email mentioned that 2009 was the same year as a project to celebrate
the 60th anniversary of the All Nippon Kyudo Federation. As a result of this, various factors
caused the IKYF to cancel the World Championships for that year.
One
obvious problem of the newly formed International Kyudo Federation is a
lack of almost any meaningful budget to finance events and immediately
after the formation of the IKYF overseas seminars were cut in half. Again, likely due to budget
considerations. It is reasonable to
assume that the world championships and the 60th ANKF anniversary
celebration would all take place at the yearly taikai
in Kyoto and the IKYF just doesn’t have the resources, money or otherwise,
to hold both events.
|
Web page for the South African Kyudo
Federation.
|
Once a year or so I receive an inquiry about kyudo
in South Africa. Well, now I have a web page to refer them
to!
Click here to see the South
African Kyudo Federation web page!
I’ve heard nothing official but if I’m reading this test result
document correctly that has just been posted on the ANKF web page, Aaron
Blackwell sensei of the South Carolina Kyudo Federation has just become the
first kyudo kyoshi in America! Can anyone confirm this?
Click here to see
the Japanese document.
Update: It is official! I’ve
just received email from Mr. Phil Swain, the vice president of the American
Kyudo Renmei, announcing that Blackwell sensei
did indeed pass his kyoshi test in Japan. Congratulations to Blackwell sensei who passed his kyoshi exam
while living and practicing in the kyudo
wilderness of America. For those who may not know, Blackwell
sensei is the president of the South Carolina Kyudo Renmei.
|
Archers need (quickly!) for the Heroes TV
show!
|
Alex Reid, the Production Supervisor on the Heroes TV show, needs
Japanese archers and he needs them fast.
If you are in the Los
Angeles area, or you’re going to be visiting there
next week and you look Japanese and know kyudo he
probably wants to hear from you immediately. Here is what he emailed to me today. I don’t feel safe posting his cell phone
number but anyone interested can email me and I’ll send it to you.
Good luck!
I am looking for 6 male archers of Japanese
decent that are proficient in
archery who would be interested in working on our
show. The first day
of work would be this Monday, June 25th and
they would be paid for
their time.
There would be additional work on upcoming episodes. They
would need to come in for an interview and
be fitted for traditional
armor with our costume department. We are located at Sunset-Gower
Studios in the middle of Hollywood. Time is running out and I have
only heard back from one person so far.
I can be contacted via email at axlereid@verizon.net
or on my cell phone at (xxx) xxx-xxxx at
any time.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Alex Reid
Production Supervisor
"HEROES"
|
The most absolutely breakable porcelain
figurine ever!.
|
The Lladro figurine company has just made
the most fragile, most breakable figurine ever. No kidding.
Click
here to see it!
Update: Okay, I finally saw
one of these in the Matsuya department store in Asakusa,
Tokyo, and
the bow is actually made of metal so it is not as breakable as I thought
from looking at the picture. The
retail price was 64,000 yen I believe.
|
Retirement of IKYF president Kamogawa sensei.
|
Although I have not heard an official IKYF announcement yet, an
observer at the IKYF board meeting on April 14th informs me that Kamogawa sensei officially stepped down as the
president of the IKYF and Suzuki Mitsunari
sensei, the current ANKF president, has assumed his duties as IKYF
president.
For those of you who, like myself,
remember the decades of service to kyudo that Kamogawa sensei has given to the art this really is the
passing of an era. I'm told he left
the board meeting when his resignation was accepted so I'm sure this was
all known in advance. Given the
recent events in his personal life his desire to retire from public
involvement in kyudo cannot come as a surprise
but still, for many overseas kyudo practioners, Kamogawa sensei
was the distinguished public face of the ANKF and the official
representative of kyudo to the world. His retirement will be marked with a
feeling of some sadness. I'm sure
that many people wish him well as he retires from his official kyudo duties.
|
Saving the world through Kyudo!
|
Saving the world through Kyudo! Now I ask you, just how totally cool is
that!!!!!
Hello.
We will held the 7th
UNICEF Charity Kyudo Meeting(Taikai)
in Fukui,Japan,
on April 29, 2007. Please see our official homepage and we are happy if you
will announce our activity in your homepage.
Thank you.
http://www.hokuriku.ed.jp/kyudo/unicef/english.htm
Hiroto Nakamura
Hokuriku Junior/Senior
High School Kyudo Club
1-8-1 bunkyo, Fukui City, Fukui
Prefecture, Japan,
910-0017
E-mail：h-nakamura<at>hokuriku.ed.jp
|
New web page from the Enshin
Dojo in the Netherlands.
|
About 11 years ago Professor Naito
retired from his job at Sapporo University and has traveled both to Europe and Asia studying both Japanese archery and Asian
archery. Feliks
Hoff sensei of Germany
kindly emailed me pictures of the dojo biraki
(dojo opening ceremonies) from Naito sensei's latest project in mainland China: a kyudo
dojo in the city of Zhuhai
in China's
Guandong province!
In addition to Hoff sensei from Germany, invited guests included Noro sensei from Sapporo
who traveled there with several Japanese students. You can see Noro
sensei performaing a Yawatashi
with Hoff sensei and Naito sensei assisting. Traditional Chinese and Korean archers
also demonstrated during the opening.
The opening was held in December and you can tell from all the green
plants in the pictures just how far south the city of Zhuhai really
is.
I believe this is actually Naito
sensei's second dojo opening in China. If memory serves me correctly I saw
pictures of Kamogawa sensei of the ANKF (at the
time) visiting Naito sensei's kyudo dojo which he
had just opened in Tientsin,
China. Naito sensei had published a book on
Japanese archery in Chinese and obviously the Chinese government must have
been pleased with the results because he was invited to start kyudo classes at the Zhuhai
Campus of Peking
Normal University
and this dojo is obviously the fruit of his labors.
I often refer to America as a "kyudo wilderness" because of the lack of facitilies and equipment and all the other problems
which always occur. It is inspiring
to see a retired Japanese professor overcome what must have been considerable
hurdles to establish a kyudo dojo in mainline China!
You can view the pictures by clicking here.
|
New web page from the Enshin
Dojo in the Netherlands.
|
A member of the Enshin
Dojo, located in the city of Utrecht,
emailed me to let me know of their dojo’s new web page where the letters
fly faster than arrows!
Note you will have to have Macromedia’s
Flash Player installed on your computer to view the webpage. Navigating the site feels like playing a
video game so I’m not giving you any hints! J
The page can be seen by clicking here.
|
Pictures from the 2007 NCKF New Year’s
Tournament.
|
The Northern California Kyudo
Federation held a 2007 New Years’s Tournament
on Jan. 7th and I took many pictures with my new digital camera of
course. This year’s tournament was marked by an outstanding performance
by the new Renshi Jon McAlister who hit 16 of
20 arrows (and received his big Renshi
certificate as part of the awards ceremony). At one point Jon hit 12
arrows in a row and his last hits were distinguished with his second
arrow striking the nock of his first arrow in the target! 2nd place went to Earl Hartman sensei
who won a shootoff with Rik Center who took 3rd. In the sandan
and under category, Belinda Leung won 1st place and in a great shootoff, Sakura san from the Seishinkan
dojo struck the center circle to take 2nd place over Keiko Franklin san
who took 3rd place.
The cute New Year’s hanamato was made by Yoshiko Buchanan sensei and
featured a seasonal boar (Ino Shi Shi) among the maple leaves theme (it’s the year of
the Boar).
You can see the pictures . Note that clicking the smaller pictures
only takes you to a slightly larger picture that is still quick to
download. Clicking on that picture
will bring up the original picture which is much higher resolution and
will take much longer to download but it is the one you want if you are
going to save the picture to your local hard disk and make a print from
it.
Also, those of you looking for Japanese specific clip
art with a new year’s theme should bookmark the Little House web
page. The New Year’s graphics are
password protected but they give away the user name of “house” and the password of “sozai”. The New Year’s web page clipart is at:
https://homepage1.nifty.com/kumamis/jan07.html
Year after year they produce the best Japanese themed
New Year’s clip art by far. Those
of you looking to decorate New Year’s scoresheets,
certificates, hanamatos, etc. should start
there.
Shinnen Omedeto Gozaimasu!
Happy Year of the Boar!
I occasionally scan photo sharing
sites looking for good kyudo pictures but I had
completely ignored video sharing sites like YouTube. A recent email from
a reader pointed out some real gems.
First is a clip of Awa Kenzo
sensei shooting at what I believe is a New Year's Celebration (Shinnen kai) in Japan.
You can see the video by
clicking here
And yes, Awa Kenzo was the
instructor of Eugen Herrigel
who wrote Zen And The Art of Archery. But remember:
While kenshõ (see true nature; i.e., attain awakening) is a Zen term, it is practically impossible to detect any Zen elements in Awa’s teaching. Surprisingly, it appears that Awa never practiced Zen even once in his life. SAKURAI (1981, p. 223), who has conscientiously studied Awa’s life, wrote that “No evidence can be found that Kenzõ ever trained with a Zen priest.”
- taken from The Myth of Zen in the Art of Archery by YAMADA Shõji and excellently translated by Earl Hartman
sensei.
http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/jjrs/pdf/586.pdf
In most of the yabusame videos the
camera bounces more than the horse but one podcast appears to have filmed
inside a training hall (An Ogasawara dojo perhaps?):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZHrAxArqWE
And there are tourist videos that can be useful training. This
makiwara sharei video
shows what happens when you don't take a big enough step back after
firing your first shot. You'll have to adjust your position after
standing up for the second shot so students of taihai
take note:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V3W7XTtGlY
Finally, before being carried away with all the videos you
should always have an appreciation for the | | 